NCAA hopes on line for Rebs

The Ole Miss Rebel basketball team will likely determine its fate pertaining to an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament today at 2:15 p.m. when the team takes on the Tennessee Volunteers.

Because the Rebels (21-9, 9-7 Southeastern Conference) were the co-champions of the SEC West, they received the No. 2 seed on their side of the bracket, giving them a bye and an opportunity to scout Tennessee on Thursday.

“It’s just a matter of playing well,” Ole Miss head coach Andy Kennedy said. “We are going in as the ‘hottest team’ having won four straight, and we have to feel good about that. We are playing good basketball, getting the desired result, and hopefully that will carry over.”

Since strengthening the resume is the primary goal, Ole Miss fans should have pulled for the No. 15 ranked Volunteers, ranked No. 13 in ESPN’s InsideRPI Daily, against the LSU Tigers.

The general consensus has the Rebels firmly on top of the bubble and just outside the current field of 65. ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi has the Rebels as his first team out of the Tournament as of Thursday night.

The process to get off the bubble for the Rebels is simple. They have to win against Tennessee.

The Rebels dropped an overtime game in Knoxville against the Volunteers early in the SEC season, but Ole Miss has performed well in road and neutral site games since.

Ole Miss won five SEC road games this season and picked up neutral site victories over nationally ranked UTEP and Kansas State in non-conference play.

Kennedy hopes that his team’s performance away from the C.M. Tad Smith Coliseum has made an impression on the NCAA Tournament selection committee.

“That’s a good point for Joe Lunardi to understand,” Kennedy said. “We have made it nine wins away from home, and there are no home games in the NCAA Tournament.

“We typically have been better (at home), but it is a different group of guys and a different answer.”

Ole Miss point guard Chris Warren is not worried about the opponent, but only the result.

“From hearsay I guess we are still on the bubble and need to knock down some games in the SEC Tournament,” Warren said. “I know if we win a few games then we are in there so we are just going to try to win games.”

Rebel guard Eniel Polynice’s status for the SEC Tournament has not been decided, Kennedy said.

Polynice was suspended indefinitely before last Saturday’s victory over Arkansas, but he has since returned to the team and resumed practice.

“We have seen, when (Polynice) is on top of his game, he brings a dynamic to our team that we don’t have,” Kennedy said. “He can really facilitate and manufacture off the bounce, and that is something we miss. But we have to have that.”

“He is back with us. It was a family issue that will remain in the family, and my hope is that he can come back and help this team.”

Warren said the team is incomplete without Polynice.

“Obviously (Polynice) is a bigpart of the team and we missed him in the Arkansas game,” he said. “Hopefully he is back and we can be clicking on all cylinders.”

If the Rebels win this afternoon, they play Saturday at noon on ABC.

The Rebels have not won the SEC Tournament since 1981.